Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to the amendments and the Bill generally. As a member of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, it is a real privilege to work with my colleagues from this House and from the Dáil, the Minister of State's Department and all relevant stakeholders. The joint committee completed pre-legislative scrutiny on this important legislation, albeit not with the most recent amendments. My colleagues and I see legislation as being an iterative process. The Planning and Development Act was first introduced in 2000 and the foreshore legislation was introduced in the 1990s. Legislation constantly needs to be updated. It is important that we remember that. We must not see today's debate as being an end point. This legislation seeks to amend existing legislation to enable us to move forward. Everybody accepts and recognises the need for it. I do not believe I have heard anybody object to an initiative to try to improve our planning process and the functions within it. Everybody is hugely disappointed in the deterioration and the disappearance of confidence in An Bord Pleanála. Many of the allegations that have been made were made anecdotally for quite a while. There was anecdotal discontent with the organisations. The allegations that the Minister referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Garda and SIPO, following consultation with the Attorney General, are very serious. They will have serious consequences and have already had such consequences for our country, society and for development and planning generally. It is imperative that every effort is made and that we all work together to try to re-establish some level of confidence in a professional, objective, transparent planning system.

The amendments relating to An Bord Pleanála are only short-term measures. The Government has signalled its acknowledgement of that by indicating its intention to bring forward much more substantive planning legislation in the new year. That legislation will follow over a year's work on the part of the Attorney General, working with the Minister, the Department and other stakeholders. I look forward to the publication of the complete legislation and to engaging with all stakeholders in the pre-legislative scrutiny. It is really important that when we undertake to make new laws to create a consolidated, comprehensive and fit-for-purpose planning process, we must look at every element of the planning process, from national planning, regional planning, city planning and county planning, right down to planning at the very local level. Obviously, the national planning framework and the regional, county and city development plans are already in place. I know that in Dublin city and in local authorities all over the country, local authority members, communities, residents, individuals, business owners and all stakeholders, including environmentalists or cultural stakeholders, are involved. In my own community, the stakeholders that engage in those city and county development plans include parents, schools and clubs. They are really important. The public participation in the making of those plans is paramount. The SDZ process and the local area plan process should also be reviewed.

I acknowledge the Minister of State and the Government for their recognition of the failure of the SHD process, which led to even greater inertia and delays in the delivery of really important infrastructure, including homes, and resulted in far too many judicial reviews. No homes or vital infrastructure, including schools and transport, environmental and energy infrastructure, will ever be delivered in a courtroom. It was really important that the SHD process was done away with. It should also be acknowledged in this debate that the introduction of the large-scale residential development process is an absolute acknowledgement of the primacy of local knowledge, the understanding of local needs and the local ability to make decisions on what are and are not good planning and development proposals for local communities. The fact that the large-scale residential process has restored decision-making at a local level is welcomed by councillors and local authority members all over the country. I acknowledge the Government's acceptance of the failure of the SHD process and most importantly, the proactive and constructive action of introducing the large-scale residential process, which has restored local decision-making at a local authority level and allows for the participation of communities, residents, local businesses, schools, organisations and environmental groups. Anyone with an interest in specific developments is invited to engage, participate and have their say.

The local authority members are the bedrock of our democracy. They are the people who champion ambition and opportunities for their local communities. They are best positioned to guide and inform development in their local areas. This Government has enabled and supported those local councillors. For far too long the councillors have been under-resourced and undersupported. I commend the Minister of State and the Government on having acknowledged the really important role that local authority members play, and for having ensured are better resourced. I would not say they are as adequately resourced as they could be, but that is a debate for another day. I acknowledge the Government taking action to ensure they have some modicum of resourcing. It is important when it comes to housing that local authority members have been empowered by the affordable housing legislation. For far too long our local authority members have not been in a position to deliver any form of affordable housing in their local authority areas. In Dublin city and county and many other parts of the country, the affordability of housing is second only to the supply of housing as an issue. This Government and the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in support of the Government, implemented the Affordable Housing Act 2021. This legislation has, for the first time in over a decade, given local authorities the power to deliver social and affordable housing. As well as that, for the first time in the history of the State, local authorities have the power to deliver affordable cost rental housing. This is an important initiative and I know from speaking to councillors that they value it. They value the fact that, for the first time, they will be able to exercise and influence the delivery of social, affordable and affordable cost rental homes on local authority lands. It is a huge innovation, which is long overdue and desperately needed. Councillors welcome it and are committed to making use of the €20 billion in funding the Government has allocated to ensure a massive increase in the delivery of social and affordable homes, including 90,000 social homes and 60,000 affordable homes. I urge the Minister of State and the Government to continue to support, enable and fund local authorities because they are best positioned to understand their communities' needs and what needs to be delivered.

In Dublin city, where the chief executive exercises the power to deliver social and affordable public homes on public land without a Part 8 process applying, the local authorities will be required to commence construction before 31 December 2024. I look forward to that change. That deadline is welcome and I know from speaking to councillors that they appreciate that some urgency will be brought to bear on the delivery of homes in our city and county because for far too long they have not been in that position. They have been at the coalface of dealing with and responding to their communities and fighting for adequate social and affordable homes for them but until now they have not been in a position to deliver them. It is important that they are being enabled and supported to do this and that the chief executives work with the local authority members, including by making information available to them and taking advantage of the value local authority members can bring to the process.

I hope we can move swiftly to the next Stage after we have disposed of these amendments. I look forward to the substantial work ahead in the new year. It has been more than 20 years since the last planning and development legislation was passed. I look forward to engaging across the House and bringing forward proposals and legislation that will be fit for purpose into the future, will take us through the next 20, 30 or 40 years and will enable the delivery of housing and other vital social infrastructure such as energy projects. We are all acutely aware of the energy crisis. As a country, society and economy, we must secure our energy independence. It is taking far too long for us to develop vital energy infrastructure and we must move away from that. We have an enormous opportunity with offshore wind and I am hoping the legislation the Minister will bring forward will enable the delivery of renewables.

As regards public transport infrastructure and the way we live and move around, we need to ensure we have a planning process that is objective, transparent and fit for purpose. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit and his Department for the work they have done on this. I look forward to working with them on the future legislation.